diving the comal at night

[PeppermintPaddi]

Who's up for round two? (Think Diego in Ice Age.)

According to New Braunfels, TX - Official Website - Hinman Island River Access Information quoted below, the park is open until midnight. A night dive would sort of take care of the 'excess visibility' that would otherwise make this dive ineligible for Swamper consideration.

How about either Sat evening, Mar 7th or the 28th. The other 2 Saturdays bracket Spring Break, at least in Austin. I'll see if I can figure out starting yet another poll.

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Hinman Island Park is located on Hinman Island Drive, between Landa Park and Prince Solms Park.

A beautiful, tree-shaded place to enjoy the Comal River! Perfect for scuba, snorkeling, swimming, tubing and fishing! Facilities include a playground, restrooms, picnic tables and easy river access.

Hours of operation are 6:00 am to midnight, daily.

 

[Hemlon]

That's a great idea, PP. Thank you for organizing it!

 

[Heavy D]

Not sure if I'll be able to make it, but night diving there isn't a problem. My LDS does a night dive in the Comal every Thursday night as long as there are people that want to go. If you get in as soon as the sun sets you are out by 9pm at the very latest. No big deal.

For what its worth though, the lower part of the river is a much better dive at night. There is a wider variety of fish including some giant cats and the occasional gar.

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

Thanks for the zig zag suggestion. Which lower part of the river has the giant cats. Could you approximate with a cross street?

Thanks!

 

[Heavy D]

You can put in at the Garden Street bridge and drift down to the last take out point for tubers before it goes into the Guadalupe, doing the same zig zag to work the banks. If you don't know where I'm talking about, it's right on the corner by Schlitterbahn. You can actually park about halfway between the two then walk to the put in point, dive, and walk back to the car when you're done.

I've seen cats that were 5-6 ft long before at night. Just look up underneath the rock overhangs and such.

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

Yes I see Garden St on the map. The S curve gives you lots of river with little walking. We were joking about doing it in doubles. Maybe it wasn't a joke. Thanks!

 

[Heavy D]

Yeah, it can be a lot of river if you are working back and forth between the banks. You joke about doubles but I have seen people do it. Not because they need the air but just because that is how their rig was set up. The only caution that I have about the lower is that there are a couple of spots that are pretty shallow (3') and it might even seem like you are crawling across the bottom but these are just a couple short stretches and it depends on where iou are at in the width of the river. The other nice thing about the lower is you don't have to worry about the park closing.

BTW, my avatar is actually a pic of me at the put in point by the Garden St. bridge. You can see the railing from the stairs in the left of the frame.

 

[cruiser]

Yeah, it can be a lot of river if you are working back and forth between the banks. You joke about doubles but I have seen people do it. Not because they need the air but just because that is how their rig was set up. The only caution that I have about the lower is that there are a couple of spots that are pretty shallow (3') and it might even seem like you are crawling across the bottom but these are just a couple short stretches and it depends on where iou are at in the width of the river. The other nice thing about the lower is you don't have to worry about the park closing.

BTW, my avatar is actually a pic of me at the put in point by the Garden St. bridge. You can see the railing from the stairs in the left of the frame.

HeavyD--

I've been on the night dive with your dive shop on thursdays. The guy would tap on the stairs railing as he saw our lights approach to let us know we were nearing the "get out" point. If nobody is there to tap on the railing, do you have some visual clues underwater to know when you're nearing the steps?

 

[PeppermintPaddi]

You know you're near the stairs because the water temp drops about 5 degrees. I guess from the little side stream coming in at that point. We could feel it even from the other side of the river.

 

[cruiser]

You know you're near the stairs because the water temp drops about 5 degrees. I guess from the little side stream coming in at that point. We could feel it even from the other side of the river.

Good to know